For FileCloud’s growing MSP channel, the attractiveness of Smart DLP really depends on how critical customers subject to regulatory compliance are to their business model.
Austin-based FileCloud, which makes a cloud-agnostic enterprise file sync and sharing platform [EFSS], has expanded its portfolio with Smart DLP, an intelligent, rules-driven solution to prevent data leaks in real time.
FileCloud is a brand of its parent company being CodeLathe, which is also based in Austin. They originally began in the consumer market with a personal cloud solution for consumers, and they still offer that product, which is branded Tonido. However, in 2013 they shifted their focus to the enterprise market, with the first version of their FileCloud product. They initially sold it direct, targeted at midmarket and enterprise customers, as a product that integrates easily into enterprise SIEM tools. More recently, they have begun adding an MSP channel to resell FileCloud Online, which is fully hosted by FileCloud, and have become a regular at CompTIA’s ChannelCon event, recruiting new MSPs.
“We are growing fast, doubling our revenues year over year,” said Venkat Ramasamy, FileCloud’s Chief Operating Officer. “The channel is a growing part of that. It now accounts for 35 per cent of our revenue, and has become particularly important for us internationally.” By way of comparison, a year ago the channel accounted for between 20 and 25 per cent of their revenues.
The addition of Smart DLP to the portfolio was dictated both by the growing importance of privacy and the omnipresence of regulations around it, and by the difficulties enterprises are facing in addressing it.
“The regulatory landscape has changed significantly, with the GDPR live and the California Consumer Privacy Act coming on in the new year,” Ramasamy said. “Privacy is becoming more and more critical, and this new solution is built for privacy.”
Ramasamy said that DLP solutions typically fail to deal with today’s security threats, and leave enterprises vulnerable to large compliance fines.
“The existing enterprise DLP solutions are generally in the boundary of the network,” he stated. “They don’t provide a full view of the network. Smart DLP is a completely new solution, which is very different from what you normally see in the industry. We are architected for the modern enterprise, where not everyone is behind the firewall.”
FileCloud’s content classification engine lets users utilize built-in search patterns to identify personally identifiable information in metadata, and allows for the creation of custom search patterns and metadata sets for vertical business content. It evaluates rule expressions and variables in real-time to allow or deny selected user actions and log rule violation report for future auditing. Ramasamy also stated that Smart DLP is much simpler to set up than traditional DLPs.
Smart DLP is available now, as part of the 19.2 release of the standard upgraded product, FileCloud Enterprise. It is not part of the other offering, FileCloud Standard.
Ramasamy said that Smart DLP’s suitability for FileCloud channel partners really depends on their business model.
“We have MSP partners who specialize in one particular vertical – like government customers or customers in a specific regulated industry, and for those partners, this will be a good fit,” he said. “It’s a specialized product. It’s not for everyone.”
